One Job Is Better Than Two

[BeyondGeography]

Millions of Americans have full-time jobs that don’t pay enough to make ends meet. So they have to work a second job, too.

It’s easy for most people to find a job in America on Labor Day 2019. The unemployment rate is very low; store windows are plastered with help wanted signs.

But for millions of Americans, one job is not enough.

Bridget Hughes, 29, works a regular day shift at a Burger King in Kansas City, Mo. Three nights a week, she also works the overnight shift at a nearby McDonald’s. She makes $10 an hour at Burger King and $9.50 an hour at McDonald’s and, together with her husband’s job at a gas station, they manage to feed their three children and to pay the rent.

“When I thought of my future, I thought I was going to be at football games and soccer practices and cheerleading, when in all actuality I’m lucky if I’m home for birthdays,” Ms. Hughes said. “And my children, they think if mommy is at work all the time then we should have the money. But the reality is that I’m at work all the time and I don’t have the money.”

More than eight million people — roughly 5 percent of all workers — held more than one job at a time in July, according to the most recent federal data. The economy has been growing for more than a decade, but their lives offer a reminder that not all Americans are thriving.

...Like Ms. Hughes, most people with multiple jobs worked a full-time job that just didn’t pay enough. Most workers find second jobs in the same industry, but a growing number have taken on “gig” work like driving for Uber.

Daniel Asnake, 49, sleeps in his car after his morning shift as a baggage handler at Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C. Then he uses the car to earn as much as $145 a shift as an Uber driver well into the evening. Most days, he leaves home before his two children rise and returns after they have gone to sleep.

More at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/01/opinion/working-two-jobs.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

[safeinOhio]

1. Trump has created millions of jobs....

I know because I have 3 of them and still can't pay the rent.

[CottonBear]

2. I have three jobs too. It's exhausting.

I think that George W. “Shrub” Bush said that having three jobs was “uniquely American”, or something to that effect, when he spoke with a woman who had three jobs.

[True Dough]

3. Another tactic

adopted more and more by employers to avoid having to pay benefits. More part-time workers only benefits those doing the hiring.

[CottonBear]

5. That is exactly the tactic. I have two part-time, no benefit jobs.

I’m also self-employed. Thankfully, I have Obamacare!

I work for state government and for a large corporation. I’m limited to 19 hours at my government job and classified as seasonal at my other job.


It is very difficult to get full-time work with benefits. I’ve put in many applications and no luck yet.

[Bayard]

4. There is something to be said...

For Andrew Yang's $1,000 a month to every person.